Knox family prepares two statements ahead of verdict

If she’s acquitted, the family of Amanda Knox will hold a half-hour news conference at a Perugia hotel.

Amanda Knox is comforted by her lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova during her trial. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)

If Knox is found guilty, they’ll make a few statements, take no questions and leave.

David Marriott, spokesman for the family of the 22-year-old West Seattle woman on trial for the November 2007 killing of British student Meredith Kercher, said he last spoke with Knox’s parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, about an hour ago.

Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, have been in Italian prison since their arrest after Kercher’s body was found in the home she and Knox shared as students studying abroad in the Italian city.

Prosecutors seek a life sentence for Knox and Sollecito. Jurors in the case are expected to hand in their verdict — called a “sentence” in Italian — some time today.

“If the verdict is not guilty, they will hold a press conference in Perugia at the Brufani Hotel one hour after the verdict,” Marriott said. “They have a statement which will probably be read by Deanna, her sister, then they’ll open it up for questions.”

If Knox is found guilty, they will make a brief statement outside the doors of the Perugia courthouse and take no questions, he said.

The family has prepared two statements — one for each of the possible outcomes — to send to media once a verdict is announced.